Federal government wants to impose mandatory curriculum.....

hammies

Duke status
Apr 8, 2006
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There is a basic premise among politicians and administrators that "education is broken."

This leads inevitably to "Let's fix it." So every principal, school board, state superintendent, governor, secretary of education, and president concocts some plan to "fix it". There is a whole fixing education industry, complete with studies and professors and consultants that validate the fix-it plan du jour. So politicians and admins implement these plans whenever possible because in their minds, the system is broken and change is good. It's the most fad-driven enterprise I have ever encountered.

Since 2000, the following changes have been shoved up teachers' asses: NCLB, standards-based education, whole-language instruction, dual-language immersion, Quad D, PBL, Common Core, and now of course (due to no one's fault) the hell that is Zoom. So actual teachers and students have to strap on for this wild ride on a swinging pendulum that goes in about six different directions, guided by people who think that education is "broken" and "change is good".

But this isn't the teacup ride at Disneyland, it's the goddam school system. And for the most part, it works pretty well. Yeah, there are some cracks and problems, but if the powers that be just got out of the way and funded and supported teachers and schools and students instead of forcing unwanted, unworkable, constant change down everybody's throats, there would be a lot fewer cracks and problems. But that'll never happen, because of the basic premise.